12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment. 

I would focus on the demographic of college students and/or adults between the ages of 18-24 who are often moving into their own apartments and dorms.

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information.

3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're on the right track! For need awareness, we need to figure out at what times, situations, places, contexts, etc., their need becomes the most salient. The questions you ask should be related to determining exactly when, how, and where their need awareness occurs.

4) Move to information search. When the person you are interviewing becomes aware of their need, what is the very first thing they do to find a solution to their problem? What sources of information do they look for? When they search in Google, what are their search terms? Do they talk to friends and family.

5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.

Isabella Olivo is a 20 year old college student. She currently lives with her sister in an apartment near campus. Not only does Isabella struggle to quietly microwave her food while her sister is sleeping, she generally does not like to the sound microwaves make at any time of day. She opens the microwave one second before it goes off and clears the screen. She would definitely be willing to invest in a microwave with silent capabilities. Until there is actually one on the market though, she will continue her process of opening at the last second.

Gabriella Milazzo is a 20 year old college student currently staying in an apartment with three roommates. She likes to have midnight snacks a lot and the noise of the microwave is undesirable when she roommates are sleeping. Currently, her apartment is providing a microwave but her lease ends at the end of summer so it might need another microwave. This also makes me wonder about partnerships with living complexes in college towns that need a microwave in every apartment. Could this be another market?

Gabriel Perez is a 20 year old college student currently living with his parents. At the moment, he does not need a microwave. But when he does move into his own apartment with roommates, he definitely sees the advantage of having of having one and would be willing to spend money on it. He does ask if there will be interesting designs and/or colors rather than the usual silver or black. This posed another interesting question: would there be a demand or diverse designs.

6) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of need awareness and information search?

I can definitely see the need that college students have. Mostly in apartments or dorms where the sounds of microwave can definitely disturb others. I am also seeing that the noise it makes is bothersome to quite a few people. This tells me that there could be a market outside of those living in with others in apartments. It's possible that people and families living by themselves or in homes would also buy this product. Not to mention the possibility of partnerships with apartment complexes and the idea to have designed microwaves.